NBA finals: the Pacers lost Game 7 and Star Tyrese Haliburton. How do you prepare Indiana for the next season?

The Indiana Pacers obtained a short victory of the NBA championship on Sunday evening, but the seismic blow to the franchise was Achille’s devastating tear to the top guard of the Tyrese Haliburton superstar.

How does a franchise pivot after getting closer to win everything while losing his best player for perhaps a year or more?

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And this is not the only problem that Pacers are facing.

So we break down which challenges await us and what the second classified for next season can do.

First things

Presumably Haliburton will miss the next season, which raises significant questions for the pacer.

The minutes of Andrew Nembhard take and make more rely on TJ McConnell? Do they go out and do an exchange for a guard to keep them competitive? Do they take a step backwards for a year?

There is no clear path and the injury is so fresh, the Pacer themselves probably did not make a call on which approach to adopt.

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There is a merit to stay the journey for the next season and simply wait for everything. After all, the pacers are not enormously expensive, therefore making smaller moves around the margin to avoid entering the tax seems a fair compromise, since the team now should not compete for a title in 2025-26.

So keeping the nucleus should remain a priority.

Continuing

The Indiana must align with the center free without restrictions Myles Turner on a new agreement. The 29-year-old has had a contract for years and the probability are good that he will seek a relaunch-gauge-duty at his first years.

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Assuming that the pars clarifies that obstacle, it is right to note that they would only keep talents and would not have added to their team yet. So while keeping Turner is their priority n. 1, this only guarantees that they will maintain their current level of talent.

The organization is open to pay the luxury tax in order to keep Turner, which should be seen as a huge resource through the aim of building the roster.

Obviously, this is a franchise that has been notoriously against it before, so while it is an optimistic title, we only see that the pacer do it really before celebrating their new perspective. Haliburton’s injury changes the calculation of the team on shopping and his commitment for the future?

The Pacers have other players in the free agency (James Johnson, Thomas Bryant, Tony Bradley, Isaiah Jackson), but no one who touches Turner at a distance regarding the importance. Therefore, we will put them in Purgatory of free agency for a while, while we look at possible updating options.

Bring new talents

Okay, let’s say the pars accepted the steps with Turner. And now?

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We have their options here, while recognizing that they will probably be passive in the open market in some way.

The first apron affects $ 195.9 million, therefore depending on the type of contract signs (presumably something in the high range of $ 20 million per year)-and Pacecer renounce the rights to Jackson or its suspension of $ 13.3 million with a new agreement for a much lower value-Pacers should have access to the exception at the medium-full level ($ 14.1 million) or close to IT.

Now, that’s where things become unnecessarily complicated.

Just because it’s called MLE does not impact, it does not mean that the teams can only use it if they are under the tax.

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In reality, the rule is that a team can be beyond the luxury tax limit and still be able to use it as long as it does not cross the territory of the first open.

This is relevant information only on the outside that the pars decides to look for a guard to hold them for a year while trying to push another ending, however improbable the scenario may be.

Could they find a guard point that is a real manufacturer of differences at $ 14.1 million? This is asking a lot.

Commercial options

Pacers could also prepare for the future through operations and take into consideration the breakdown of some of their contracts in smaller pieces.

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Obi Toppin played well in the final and obviously does not seem prepared to be a commercial candidate. But with Pascal Siakam already underway and Jarace Walker capable of playing forward, Toppin and his $ 14 million salary could make a good commercial chip.

Pacers could try to use the Toppin agreement to acquire a shooter and a backup center in exchange.

It would not hurt to have more spacing of the floor, nor would it hurt to have a player at hand to make the backup of Turner, with Jackson (Achille torn) probably for the start of the season.

Bennetott Mathurin, which will be admissible after this season, could also be an interesting player to dangose. It is explosive and elite to get to the line and the score skill (16.1 per game) is there, which should attract several teams.

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Perhaps more than anyone else, Mathurin could demonstrate the most crucial commercial chip, especially if the pacer identifies a team that was in love with him before the draft three years ago.

Rejecting Mathurin would be difficult, but it could save them a ton on future salary commitments.

The general picture

The pars were ready to enter this summer as buyers, looking for further updates to help them return to the final next year.

Now, the numerous paths that could have traveled have restricted and seem forced to put a lid on their flexibility to optimize the future wage balance in the hope that Haliburton will return to form in a year.

It is a monumental blow for the aspirations of this team and now they are in handcuffs a few days before entering offseason.